1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to kaleidoscopes and, more particularly, to a self-lighting kaleidoscope having a removable object tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Kaleidoscopes have been known in the art for many years. Most of the known kaleidoscopes have fixed object cells on the interior which, upon rotation of the kaleidoscope tube, change the random dispersion of objects in the cell to present different images. Such kaleidoscopes are usually held up to the light, or have artificial light illuminating the same, the light entering the kaleidoscope tube through the object and illuminating the objects from behind so that they are viewable. This method depends on the transparency of the objects to produce an effect. Obviously, such kaleidoscopes cannot be used in the dark. Further, since the object cell is fixed in the tube, the user may quickly become tired of the views presented and lose interest.
One such kaleidoscope is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,010,808 to Scheufler. The Scheufler patent shows a kaleidoscope having mirrors 20, 21 disposed in a V-shaped arrangement. There is no internal removable sliding object tube nor any light source.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,020,796 to Kaplan, a stand 10 has a three slanting mirror 21 on the interior of viewing tube 17. A lamp 15 (FIG. 2) is at the bottom of the tube 17. A disk 16 is rotated to produce the object to be viewed. Thus, there is no removable sliding object tube.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,306 to Spear, a kaleidoscope is disclosed having a base 4 and a rotatable disk 5. No light source is provided. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,629 to Allen, a kaleidoscope having a light source 28 (FIG. 4) is disclosed. However, objects 7 (FIG. 2b) are viewed externally of the device. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,879 to Gonzales, a kaleidoscope is disclosed having a light source 28 (FIG. 4). Materials in gallery 12 are viewed. There is no object tube. Stern, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,865, shows another kaleidoscope having a light source 30 and a rotatable object wheel 41 with particulate matter 47 therein. There is no removable object tube. MacCarthy in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,046 showed a kaleidoscope having V-shaped mirrors with various object cells (see FIGS. 3-9). There is no light or sliding tube. Kaplan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,653 shows a kaleidoscope having movable FIGS. 16 (FIG. 1). There is no light or object tube. Orans, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,013, has an object area filled with liquid with vanes to blow the same and move objects in the liquid. A light 30 is provided but no sliding object tube.
There thus exists a need for a kaleidoscope having a self-contained light source and a removable fluid filled object tube for viewing discretely colored particles floating in the tube.